This commentary is by Melinda Moulton of Huntington, a community leader and activist.
Amanda Zurawski is suing the state of Texas. During the second trimester of her pregnancy, she was told she had to carry her unsurvivable fetus to term even though her personal health was tragically failing due to an incompetent cervix.
She was told she had to wait until she was “sick enough” before they would terminate her pregnancy. Eventually she received an abortion after she went into septic shock and almost died. The hospital board determined Amanda’s fate.
She now has PTSD and depression, and she may not be able to have children. She described the horrific experience as “paralyzing.” One maternal-fetal specialist stated “people must be on death’s door to qualify for maternal exceptions to SB.8 — the Texas Heartbeat Act. The law bars physicians from performing abortions after the detection of a “fetal heartbeat.”
The Texas 2021 “Trigger Ban” creates criminal penalties for abortions. The attacks on human reproductive health care are relentless and terrifying and they are happening across our country.
The Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade back in June 2022, ending 51 years of reproductive freedom. This unconscionable assault on the rights of women to determine their reproductive health has opened a gaping wound across the country. There will be increased bloodshed, maiming, shaming, imprisonment, and death for women as restrictions, bans and punishing laws get enacted.
Last November, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts released a U.S. Senate study on the consequences of abortion bans that were set in motion after Roe was struck down. It concluded that these state-imposed restrictions have created mortal threats to women suffering from miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, and other complications. These laws disproportionately impact communities of color, rural and low-income communities. The report highlights other areas of human and economic deterioration resulting from imposed laws restricting reproductive freedom and justice.
Just last month the Supreme Court weighed in on mifepristone, the “abortion pill” also used for auto-immune and cancer treatments. For the time being, it upheld the Food and Drug Administration’s regulations that permit easy access to the “morning after” pill.
It is deeply concerning that these judicial decisions mar the efficacy of our Food and Drug Administration by raising questions about the validity and credibility of important lifesaving medications. These challenges have the potential to open the door for any drug being judicially removed from the market. The impact on human health is far-reaching.
And have no doubt, basic contraception is next on the chopping block if Justice Clarence Thomas has his way. Approximately 86% of all child-bearing women in America use some form of birth control. Already, at least 12 states permit health care providers the right to refuse patients contraceptive services and I fear more states will follow suit.
Here we are in the springtime of 2023, and women are being transported back to a very dark period in American history. I am 73 years old, and I remember those times. The effects of bans and restrictions on women’s reproductive health care will cut deep into the fabric of millions of American lives.
There are tremendous negative impacts not just on health, but on mental, economic and social well-being. Human societies are stronger when women have autonomy over their lives, and this includes bodily autonomy.
The United Nations Population Fund reported that one-half of women in the world are denied autonomous decisions when it comes to sex, contraception, and reproductive health care. UNFPA has found that “not only is bodily autonomy a human right, but it is also the foundation upon which other human rights are built. The realization of bodily autonomy will fortify the welfare of all people … men and boys included.”
I reached out to my 14-year-old granddaughter and asked her about the anti-reproductive health care movement in America. She quickly, without missing a step, responded “it makes me feel diminished, unheard, disrespected, and it violates my rights as a human being.”
At lunch the other day with a 29-year-old friend, I asked her the same question and she replied, “I feel so lucky to be in Vermont. How could I feel safe anywhere else? This is total insanity, mind-blowing and deeply painful.”
She went on to tell me she was incredibly angry. As a mother of a young son, she added “we need to raise men to care about autonomy and humanity because what is going on right now is abusive and dangerous to women’s lives.”
The national outrage over the anti-reproductive health care movement is palpable and growing, and it will find its way directly to the ballot box.
